Voters at Precinct 8 inside the Anthony Administration building cast their ballots on Tuesday afternoon for the mid-term election. While voter turnout was high, a majority of the polling places reported short wait times to vote. Corey Ohlenkamp/Star Press

Voters at the Delaware County Fairgrounds had long wait lines for ballot machines before they could cast their vote on Tuesday. While many places reported a busy election day the Fairgrounds for Precinct 27 was abnormally long. Corey Ohlenkamp/Star Press

Voters at Precinct 4 located inside Sugarbush Apartments sign in to cast their ballots on Tuesday. A majority of polling places in north Muncie reported wait times no more than five minutes for most of the day. Corey Ohlenkamp/Star Press

Voters at Precinct 4 located inside Sugarbush Apartments sign in to cast their ballots on Tuesday. A majority of polling places in north Muncie reported wait times no more than five minutes for most of the day. Corey Ohlenkamp/Star Press

Voters at the Delaware County Fairgrounds had long wait lines for ballot machines before they could cast their vote on Tuesday. While many places reported a busy election day the Fairgrounds for Precinct 27 was abnormally long. Corey Ohlenkamp/Star Press

Voters for precinct 45 and 47 inside the Northside Church of the Nazarene cast their ballots on Tuesday. Polling stations all reported a very steady flow of voters, unusually high for a mid-term election. Corey Ohlenkamp/Star Press

Voters at Precinct 4 located inside Sugarbush Apartments cast their ballots on Tuesday. A majority of polling places in north Muncie reported wait times no more than five minutes for most of the day. Corey Ohlenkamp/Star Press

Voters at Precinct 39 inside the Farm Bureau Insurance Conference Room along Ind. 67 cast their ballots on Tuesday. Polling stations across the areal reported a very steady flow of voters, unusually high for a mid-term election. Corey Ohlenkamp/Star Press

Voters at Precinct 39 inside the Farm Bureau Insurance Conference Room along Ind. 67 sign in with poll workers before casting their ballots on Tuesday. Polling stations across the areal reported a very steady flow of voters, unusually high for a mid-term election. Corey Ohlenkamp/Star Press

Voters at the Delaware County Fairgrounds had long wait lines for ballot machines before they could cast their vote on Tuesday. While many places reported a busy election day the Fairgrounds for Precinct 27 was abnormally long. Corey Ohlenkamp/Star Press

Voters at Precinct 8 inside the Anthony Administration building cast their ballots on Tuesday afternoon for the mid-term election. While voter turnout was high across the area polling stations which included Ball State students had even larger turnouts. Corey Ohlenkamp/Star Press

Voters at Precinct 8 inside the Anthony Administration building cast their ballots on Tuesday afternoon for the mid-term election. While voter turnout was high across the area polling stations which included Ball State students had even larger turnouts. Corey Ohlenkamp/Star Press

Voters at Precinct 8 inside the Anthony Administration building cast their ballots on Tuesday afternoon for the mid-term election. While voter turnout was high across the area polling stations which included Ball State students had even larger turnouts. Corey Ohlenkamp/Star Press

Voters at the Delaware County Fairgrounds had long wait lines for ballot machines before they could cast their vote on Tuesday. While many places reported a busy election day the Fairgrounds for Precinct 27 was above average in wait times. Corey Ohlenkamp/Star Press

Voters at the Delaware County Fairgrounds had long wait lines for ballot machines before they could cast their vote on Tuesday. While many places reported a busy election day the Fairgrounds for Precinct 27 was above average in wait times. Corey Ohlenkamp/Star Press

Voters at the Delaware County Fairgrounds had long wait lines for ballot machines before they could cast their vote on Tuesday. While many places reported a busy election day the Fairgrounds for Precinct 27 was above average in wait times. Corey Ohlenkamp/Star Press

Voters at the Delaware County Fairgrounds had long wait lines for ballot machines before they could cast their vote on Tuesday. While many places reported a busy election day the Fairgrounds for Precinct 27 was above average in wait times. Corey Ohlenkamp/Star Press

Voters at the Delaware County Fairgrounds had long wait lines for ballot machines before they could cast their vote on Tuesday. While many places reported a busy election day the Fairgrounds for Precinct 27 was above average in wait times. Corey Ohlenkamp/Star Press

Voters at the Delaware County Fairgrounds had long wait lines for ballot machines before they could cast their vote on Tuesday. While many places reported a busy election day the Fairgrounds for Precinct 27 was above average in wait times. Corey Ohlenkamp/Star Press

Voter turnout was 47.82 percent locally, the county clerk's office said, with 38,192 voting and just under 9,000 people voting early.

Turnout on Tuesday was huge compared to recent mid-term election years. In 2014, turnout locally was 27 percent. In 2010, turnout was 37 percent.

All day long on Tuesday, social media was a blur of people recounting their experience voting in Delaware County and posting selfies with their “I voted” stickers.

Many seemed to take it as a badge of honor to wait 30 minutes or an hour or more.

And then there’s Evan DeWitt, who told The Star Press on Twitter he registered to vote in Delaware County and went to cast his ballot, only to be told he had to vote in Bloomington, where he had initially registered. He drove to Bloomington to vote.

Election Day 2018 — with hotly-contested local races for sheriff and county commissioner and up-ballot contests that threatened, once and for all, to end the suffering of people tired of TV commercials about blue shirts and Chinese manufacturing — carried a lot of weight. The mid-term election, which usually doesn’t rival the presidential year for turnout, brought out more than 9,000 people just for early voting.

On Tuesday itself, voters found a mixed bag at the county’s polling sites. Sometimes they walked in and voted with no wait, other times they waited for an hour or more.

Our election reporting is provided free Tuesday and Wednesday, but we hope you will continue to support The Star Press by subscribing here.

Why?

“It’s just a civic duty,” Sarah Jones, who voted at First Brethren Church, said. “If you’re going to gripe about the government, you’d better vote.”

CLOSE

After a very busy early voting season, Election Day is underway in Delaware County.
Wochit

Starting at 6 a.m., some of Delaware County's 78 polling places were busy, like New Life Presbyterian Church in Yorktown, which saw a large turnout throughout the morning and afternoon. Meanwhile, other sites, like the Buley Center and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Muncie, saw a typical midterm crowd of familiar faces, but not larger than normal.

As with most elections, there were isolated reports of problems with the Microvote machines the county uses. At Northside Church of God, election workers discovered one of several machines wasn’t plugged in. They chuckled about it later.